You Can't Build a GPS Until You Know the Destination

Sometimes it's fun to just get in the car and go.

No itinerary. No carefully planned route. Maybe you have a general direction in mind, or maybe you don't. You follow the road, the weather, your curiosity, and, inevitably, however much money you have left in your pocket.

Those trips can become wonderful adventures.

You discover places you never intended to visit. You stop because something catches your eye. You take the scenic route simply because it looks interesting. Maybe you end up somewhere completely different from where you thought you were going.

For a spontaneous vacation, that can be part of the fun.

For building a career or a life?

It can become chaos.

Because the best-planned journeys usually begin with one very simple decision:

Where do I want to go?

Start With the Destination

Think about the last trip you really planned.

Usually, you didn't begin by packing the suitcase.

You chose the destination.

Once you knew where you were going, a hundred other decisions suddenly became possible.

How are you going to get there?

Are you driving or flying?

How long will it take?

Where will you stay?

What will it cost?

What's the weather going to be like?

What clothes will you need?

What is there to do when you arrive?

Are there places you want to see along the way?

Do you need reservations?

Special equipment?

A passport?

Tickets?

A rental car?

You gather information and make decisions based on where you're going.

Imagine doing all of that without knowing the destination.

What should I pack?

Well...where are you going?

What should I budget?

Where are you going?

Should I drive?

Where are you going?

Until we answer that question, we're guessing.

And yet we do exactly that with our careers all the time.

We Start Packing Before We Know Where We're Going

Should I go back to school?

Should I take this job?

Should I start a business?

Do I need a website?

Should I join this organization?

Should I attend that conference?

Do I need an agent?

Should I start a podcast?

Should I be making videos?

Should I learn this new technology?

Should I take this opportunity because somebody offered it to me?

Maybe.

But before I can tell you whether any of those things belong in your suitcase, I need to know:

Where are you trying to go?

That's where career planning gets interesting.

Because we can become extraordinarily busy without becoming any closer to the life we actually want.

We can collect credentials.

Take jobs.

Join organizations.

Accept opportunities.

Start projects.

Meet people.

Fill calendars.

And because we're doing so much, it feels like progress.

But movement isn't necessarily direction.

You can drive all day and still end up farther from where you wanted to be.

Dream Before You Plan

This is why the first conversation in The Creative Leader's Edge was about yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Before we start constructing a route, we need to give ourselves permission to imagine tomorrow.

And I mean really imagine it.

Not the future that seems reasonable based on your résumé.

Not the future other people expect from you.

Not simply the next promotion, job title, project, or accomplishment.

I want you to dig deeper.

What do you truly want to be?

What do you want your life to look like?

What kind of work do you want to do?

What do you want to create?

Who do you want around you?

What kind of environment do you want to work in?

How do you want to spend your time?

What do you want an ordinary Tuesday to look like?

This is where being a creative spirit becomes an advantage.

We're dreamers.

We imagine things that don't exist yet.

Writers create worlds on blank pages. Filmmakers imagine scenes before anyone has picked up a camera. Artists see possibilities on empty canvases. Entrepreneurs imagine companies before there is a company.

So use some of that imagination on yourself.

Don't begin by asking whether you know how to get there.

First decide whether that's where you actually want to go.

A Destination Turns Possibilities Into Decisions

Once you've identified your destination, something interesting happens.

The endless collection of maybes becomes easier to evaluate.

Maybe you do need that degree.

Maybe you don't.

Maybe that job is an incredible opportunity.

Maybe it's an attractive detour that takes you farther from what you actually want.

Maybe you need to spend money on equipment.

Maybe your resources would be better spent somewhere else.

Maybe you need another certification.

Maybe what you really need is experience.

The answer depends on the destination.

A destination turns possibilities into decisions.

Now we have something against which to measure the choices in front of us.

Does this move me toward where I'm trying to go?

What do I need to learn?

What skills will I need?

What will this journey cost?

What resources do I already have?

What am I missing?

Who has traveled a similar road?

What can I learn from them?

What should I prepare for before I begin?

Now we're planning a journey instead of simply accumulating activity.

The Route Doesn't Have to Be Straight

Choosing a destination doesn't mean surrendering spontaneity.

Quite the opposite.

Some of the best parts of any journey happen because we didn't follow the original plan exactly.

Take the scenic route.

Stop somewhere interesting.

Stay an extra day.

Talk to somebody you didn't expect to meet.

Explore.

Creative careers rarely follow straight lines anyway.

An unexpected opportunity may take you somewhere extraordinary. A setback may force you onto another road. Something you thought you wanted may turn out to be completely wrong for you.

That's okay.

Spontaneity belongs on the journey. Direction belongs in the plan.

There is a difference between taking an intentional detour and wandering because you never decided where you wanted to go.

And there is nothing wrong with changing the destination.

You are going to change.

Your circumstances will change.

Your priorities may change.

The things you value at forty may not be the things you valued at twenty. The dream you begin with may evolve as you gain experience and discover possibilities you couldn't see from the starting line.

The leadership framework behind The Creative Leader's Edge is built around that kind of adaptability. Leadership isn't static. We continue learning, adjusting, and recalibrating as circumstances change.

Changing direction isn't failure.

Sometimes you simply need to recalculate.

Now We Can Turn On the GPS

Once you know the destination, we can finally ask the other important question:

Where am I now?

That's your starting coordinate.

And I want you to look at it without judgment.

A GPS doesn't become disappointed because you're 600 miles from your destination.

It doesn't lecture you about why you should have left earlier.

It simply identifies your location.

You are here.

Now we have something incredibly valuable.

We know where you are.

We know where you want to go.

Between those two points is the journey.

That's where we'll identify what you need to learn, what resources you'll need, which skills need developing, which opportunities make sense, which ones don't, and what your next turn might be.

You don't have to know every road before you leave.

You don't have to know every obstacle you'll encounter.

And you certainly don't have to have everything figured out today.

But you need somewhere to point the GPS.

So before you start packing...

Before you start driving...

Before you ask everyone else which road you should take...

Give yourself permission to dream.

Then choose your destination.

We'll figure out how to get there.

Find your compass. Set your GPS. Build your way forward.

**

Thank you for spending a little time at The Creative Leader’s Edge.

I believe creativity is more than something we make. It is part of how we think, how we lead, and how we imagine what comes next.

What did this idea bring up for you? I welcome your thoughts, experiences, and perspectives. If something here resonated, please follow, subscribe, and share it with another creative spirit finding their way forward.

Continue the journey with The Creative Leader’s Edge Explore the book and discover the Creative Leadership Archetypes, Elemental Energies, Action Avatars, Power Ups, Debuffs, and tools designed to help you better understand how you create, lead, and grow.

📖 The Creative Leader’s Edge — https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Leaders-EdgeTM-leadership-storytellers/dp/B0FKZ7GGNG/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

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Find your compass. Set your GPS. Build your way forward.

— Dr. AY Heath (Angel)

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